Manuscripts
Simon R. Frank Civil War diary
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Ira W. Baker pocket diary
Manuscripts
Diary of a Civil War soldier serving in the 75th Regiment, Illinois Infantry; also present is a certificate of record for Ira W. Baker, 1914 April.
mssHM 46348
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Charles Lee Civil War diary
Manuscripts
Diary that Charles Lee kept from January 1 to November 10, 1864. In addition to camp life and multiple vows to lay off whiskey, the diary covers visits to the regiment by Ulysses S. Grant and Joshua Thomas Owen, and gives brief accounts of the battles at Morton's Ford (1864, Feb. 6 - 7), Po River, (May 10, 1864), and the Petersburg campaign, including Jerusalem Plank Road (June 22 - 23), Strawberry Plains (Aug. 14), Ream''s Station (Aug. 25), Weldon Railroad (Aug. 25), and Fort Sedgwick (Oct. 27) and describes Finley hospital which Lee described as "a singular place" with the "Band playing at one End of the Ward outside and the Doctors performing an operation at the other."
mssHM 30476
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Diaries and correspondence
Manuscripts
The Civil War diaries and correspondence of Edward E. Schweitzer. Five pocket diaries cover Schweitzer's military service from September 1861 through August 1865. The entries record movement of the troops, war news, minutia of camp life, etc. There are also three letters from Schweitzer to his family posted from Virginia, Louisiana, and Georgia. Also included are his military records including appointments, certificates of discharge, and a muster-out roll of Co. I of the 30th Ohio. The post-war portion includes Schweitzer's diaries for the years 1869, 1884, and 1885, correspondence related to his effort to obtain disability compensation in 1882, and materials reflecting his membership in the veterans' association of the 30th Ohio Infantry. His letter to Jeannie Anderson of March 24, 1870, describes his stay at a sanatorium in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, including staff, patients, etc. Also included is a diary kept by Jennie Anderson in 1867. The collection contains many publications including issues of the Pennsylvania Inquirer (1865 May 25), the Daily News (Petersburg, Virginia, 1865 May 9), Windsor Currier (Windsor, Missouri, 1871-1872) and Newcomerstown Visitor (Newcomerstown, Ohio, 1871). Also included are copies of several books and pamphlets including The old battle fields revisited after 16 years! : a horseback ride from Chattanooga to Atlanta by C.O. Brown (Sandusky, Ohio : Register Printing House, 1880), History of the Thirtieth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry: from its organization, to the fall of Vicksburg, Miss. by Lieut. Henry R. Brinkerhoff, Thirtieth Ohio (Columbus, O. James W. Osgood, printer, 1863), and printed rosters of the 1888 and 1890 reunions of the 30th Regiment. The collection also includes Civil War memorabilia and photographs.
mssHM 66500-66519
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Civil War collection
Manuscripts
A collection of 546 items containing chiefly letters written by prominent military figures during the American Civil War (1781-1915, bulk 1861-1865); also included are some documents, a diary, manuscript maps, and battle plans. The collection focus is upon the land forces with a few pieces related to the Union navy. Significant persons represented in the collection, among others: Pierre G. T. Beauregard, Benjamin F. Butler, Jefferson Davis, David G. Farragut, Ulysses S. Grant, Henry W. Halleck, Edward Hatch, Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. Lee, Francis W. Pickens, Philip H. Sheridan, William T. Sherman, and George H. Thomas.Material created by U.S. presidents in this collection include: James Buchanan autograph note, 1861 February 28, added to Winfield Scott letter to Joseph Holt, 1861 February 26 (CW 388); James A. Garfield, Chattanooga, autograph letter signed to "Brother Evrett," Detroit, 1863 October 5 (CW 133); Andrew Johnson, Washington, D.C., autograph letter signed to Edwin M. Stanton, 1867 February 11 (CW 215). Also present are the following Ulysses S. Grant items: autograph note signed to unidentified recipient, 1862 February 26 (CW 144); autograph letter signed, Pittsburg Landing, to Henry Halleck, 1862 April 28 (CW 146); autograph order no. 111, 1863 April 21 (CW 154); autograph letter signed, Culpeper, to Edward Davis Townsend, 1864 March 30 (CW 153); autograph letter signed, Washington, D.C., to Lorenzo Thomas, 1864 April 4 (CW 152); autograph letter signed, City Point, to Benjamin Butler, 1864 November 30 (CW 145); autograph letters signed to George Henry Thomas sent from Chattanooga, 1863 November 7 (CW 149); Nashville, 1864 January 19 (CW 150); and City Point, 1865 January 31 (CW 151); and autograph letters signed, City Point, to George Gordon Meade, 1864 July 14 (CW 147) and 1865 March 27 (CW 148).
mssCW
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Henry Breidenthal Civil War diary
Manuscripts
Breidenthal's diary that covers the month from October 10 to November 12, 1861, when the 3rd Regiment was attached to Reynolds's command at Cheat Mountain, W. Va. Breidethal, being and a devout Christian and possessing of an indomitable if somewhat morose personality, set to out devote his spare time to writing a diary in large part to avoid "the society here" that he found was "not congenial to my tastes." (He dismissed "the general character of our soldiery" as "lowbred" and their aspirations "rising but little above the instinct of the animal creature.") The daily entry contain detailed expositions on his Bible reading, including political implications of the Scripture, (Breidenthal was a passionate abolitionist who counted "our complicity with African Slavery -- a crime of sufficient enormity to sink this great nation" as one of the great sins and regarded "Bible defenders of the American slavery" as "false prophets"); his opinions on the books he was reading (he studiously avoided "trashy novels" and "obscene books," preferring sermons by Henry Ward Beecher, a biography of Cavour, or a "Life of Balaam, by Rev. Hatfield"); political news, including discussion of Fremont's proclamation of Aug. 30, 1861; and camp life, especially entertainment (of which he heartily disapproved, being particularly troubled by the widespread gambling, "not edifying conversation and vulgar songs" as well as dancing and smoking); regimental gossip and jockeying for promotions. He also recounts, in great detail, the inquiry into the death of a soldier killed by a sentinel too scared to give the required challenge.
mssHM 68485-68486
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John Coyle Civil War diary
Manuscripts
A diary kept by John Coyle while serving as an agent of the United States Christian Commission from July to October, 1864. Daily entries give detailed accounts of Coyle's ministry in Alexandria, Virginia, including hospitals, churches, schools, and prisons and his encounters with the patients, physicians, nurses, preachers, congregants, students, and inmates; the accounts of his ministry to soldiers wounded in the battles of the Overland campaign include African-American troops. Coyle met with many African-American preachers, including Leland Warring, a former slave turned preacher, the founder of Alexandria's "contraband school." Waring autographed the front flyleaf of the diary commemorating their meeting. Coyle's descriptions of the city hospitals include accounts of the L'Ouverture Hospital for African-American troops. The entries also describe some sightseeing, including a day trip to Mount Vernon. Reverend Coyle found service in the field less satisfying, as he was mostly engaged in distributing goods and newspapers, with very few opportunities to preach, but he did take the time to visit neighboring communities.
mssHM 83835